cookout paparazzi

I had a guest artist documenting my most recent cookout.

Lydia sent me a text all, “Whatcha doin?” And I said “Grillin! Come over!”

And then she asked if she could help and I said take pictures.

Preheating and Pandora:

 

Sheila stalking something… (She’s on a real vole-eating kick. And got a ROBIN the other day oh God it was so traumatizing)

On a happier note, pesto! Photographed in the pot next to last year’s dead plants. (For the record, that box now contains gernaiums and is much less sad looking).

Fixin’s for a quinoa salad.

 

Fresh deck-grown oregano joined the party.

First off the grill: asparagus (the last of the bunch. Everyone got two spears, heh.)

Then I put sweet potatoes on the grill while Steve frantically tried to rescue a fallen asparagus spear.

Teamwork. Love.

  

Grilled sweet potatoes: Slice. Steam til just tender. Spray. Grill. Try to keep them from falling through the grate, but, yknow, no one’s perfect.

One of my favorite recipes for wilted spinach salad. Mm. Involves soy sauce, lemon, mustard powder, and olive oil.

The finished quinoa salad, most of the work of which was done by Lydia. Quinoa, apple, cuc, vinaigrette, oregano, lemon. Think she also threw in some of the oil from the top of the pesto.

BISON BURGERS! We had half a pound left and I split it three ways for burgers for my mom, the boyf, and I. (Lydia’s a vegetarian; I made her a bean burger and half of it fell through the grate. FOIL, LELE.) Anyway, these were GREAT and I’d been totally jonesing for a burger as I made my way through meatless Lent.

 

Secretly, I could’ve eaten all three. They were amazing. I do my burgers with just salt and pepper, Worcestershire, and fresh oregano.

Fun fact: you know how icky compounds form when you grill foods at high heat and get (delicious) char on them? Well the antioxidants in herbs LIKE OREGANO help prevent that :D I read that in Today’s Dietitian.

Feast! Under the beautiful sky! Next to the beautiful trees! Feeling the wonderful breeze!

Lydia always tells me there aren’t enough pictures of me in my blog, and exhorted me to interact with the food.

So here I am petting the hamburger buns. We both *love* this picture.

And I *loved* this dinner (and ate lots more than this!)